In various athletic competitions, sporting events, ball games, and the like, visual knowledge about the location of a game ball, or other like device, and of one or more players engaged in the game may be critical to a referee decision about the game. Game aspects such as fouls, an out-of-bounds ball, location at which to place a ball for a next play, and scoring are all often solely decided based on human, instantaneous, visual inspection and review by a referee or umpire, and perhaps sometimes review of a video replay. As is well known in such competitions, there is much room for visual error, misjudgment, missed plays, bad calls, misplaced balls, and so forth. Such errors may lead to a change in the overall scoring outcome of the game or some other unfairness to one player or one team in the game or event.
By way of example, in some cases even when an official is fully engaged and paying attention in a game, his visual line of sight may be obstructed due to other players, body parts, bad viewing angles, and so forth. Also, by way of example, and regarding football, even an inch can make a difference in a game. Football has often been called a “game of inches.” So much so that inch may make a difference between a win and a loss in a game. For example, in football, possession of the ball can change based on a single inch, depending on the location of the completion of the prior play. Knowledge about where to place a ball after a play is critical. Knowledge about when a player hits the ground, steps out of bounds, or makes contact with his helmet is also critical to know as well. Known attempts to address these and related problems are enumerated below. However, there remain many shortcomings and deficiencies in the known prior art.
Related utility patents known in the art include the following:
U.S. Pat. No. 9,498,682, issued to Luciano, Jr. et al. on Nov. 22, 2016, discloses an RFID embedded within inner core of a multi-core golf ball.
U.S. Pat. No. 9,498,680, issued to Luciano, Jr. et al. on Nov. 22, 2016, discloses a split inner core of a multi-core golf ball with RFID.
U.S. Pat. No. 9,370,694, issued to Luciano, Jr. et al. on Jun. 21, 2016, discloses a golf ball with RFID inlay in a molded impression.
U.S. Pat. No. 9,339,697, issued to Luciano, Jr. et al. on May 17, 2016, discloses an RFID golf ball target system and method.
U.S. Pat. No. 9,035,749, issued to Luciano, Jr. et al. on May 19, 2015, discloses a movable golf range target with RFID ball identifier.
Related utility patent application publications known in the art include the following:
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2013/0196787 filed by Luciano, Jr. et al. and published on Aug. 1, 2013, discloses an RFID embedded within the inner core of a multi-core golf ball.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2013/0165261 filed by Luciano, Jr. et al. and published on Jun. 27, 2013, discloses a split inner core of a multi-core golf ball with RFID.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2012/0256731 filed by Luciano, Jr. et al. and published on Oct. 11, 2012, discloses a golf ball with RFID in a molded impression.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2012/0255999 filed by Luciano, Jr. et al. and published on Oct. 11, 2012, discloses a golf ball with encapsulated RFID chip.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2012/0255998 filed by Luciano, Jr. et al. and published on Oct. 11, 2012, discloses a golf ball with RFID inlay between a split core.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2012/0056721 filed by Luciano, Jr. et al. and published on Mar. 8, 2012, discloses a moveable golf range target with RFID ball identifier.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2013/0196788 filed by Shimizu et al. and published on Aug. 1, 2013, discloses a golf ball with RFID system.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2012/0052967 filed by Grieshaber et al. and published on Mar. 1, 2012, discloses an RFID golf ball target system and method.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2007/0184908 filed by Hansen and published on Aug. 9, 2007, discloses virtual bowling with a bowling ball having an RFID tag.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2007/0275787 filed by Bouchard et al. and published on Nov. 29, 2007, discloses a bowling ball having an RFID tag.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2009/0197710 filed by Ronda and published on Aug. 6, 2009, discloses a marking system for sport areas.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2009/0029806 filed by Hsu and published on Jan. 29, 2009, discloses a method of applying RFID in a ball game field/court to assist referee in making a decision.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2007/0135243 filed by LaRue et al. and published on Jun. 14, 2007, discloses an active sports tracker and method.
Related non-patent literature (NPL) publications known in the art include the following:
“Fumble? Don't ask the ref. Check the RFID Tag”, by Paul R. La Monica, CNN Money online, found online at http://money.cnn.com/2016/09/09/technology/nfl-football-zebra-technologies-rfid-tags/, accessed Jan. 7, 2017.
“The NFL RFID-Tags Its Footballs”, FRID Journal, by Claire Swedberg, found online at http://www.rfidjournal.com/articles/pdf?14942, accessed online, Jan. 7, 2017.
“How RFID Chips Are Changing The NFL”, Forbes online, by Aaron Tilley, http://www.forbes.com/sites/aarontilley/2016/02/06/how-rfid-chips-are-changing-the-nfl/print/, accessed online, Jan. 7, 2017.
“RFID Drafted to Track NFL Players' Every Move During Games”, RFID Journal, Beth Bacheldor, found online at http://www.rfidjournal.com/articles/view?12068, accessed online, Jan. 28, 2017.
“The NFL's Next Generation Statistics”, RFID Journal, Mark Roberti, found online at http://www.rfidjournal.com/articles/view?12839, accessed online, Jan. 28, 2017.
As should be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art, upon reading this disclosure, these many known attempts to address such problems on accuracy in athletic competitions includes many shortcomings and deficiencies.
The foregoing patent and other information reflect the state of the art of which the inventor is aware and are tendered with a view toward discharging the inventor's acknowledged duty of candor in disclosing information that may be pertinent to the patentability of the technology described herein. It is respectfully stipulated, however, that the foregoing patent and other information do not teach or render obvious, singly or when considered in combination, the inventor's claimed invention.